Ressurection of the Time Lords
by MissLisaJade
Summary: Set just post The Runaway Bride, the Doctor morns his loss of Rose. But when an old friend catches up with him he decides to join her on a mission to find a missing person. What they discover leads them to a fanatical individual who worships Time Lords
1. Chapter 1

Although I've had the vague shape of this story in my head for a while, I've found it difficult to get down on the page. Thankfully my university exams are finishing soon (tomorow afternoon) and my good friend and fellow Who and Eddie Izzard fangirl Phe has been there to listen to my rambling and workshop my ideas through Instant Message RPG! Here's the first chapter!

As ever, reveiws are love -

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The planet of Tanel was not a particularly hospitable planet. It had no atmosphere and howling sola winds. However it's situation between Faraq, a farming planet where the best Fara meat could be obtained, the constellation Cetes containing the planet Varos, where the valuable fuel zeiton 7 was mined, and the highly wealthy planet of Gaxatron Major, where both Fara meat and zeiton 7 was consumed in large quantaties, meant Tanel settlers had built a enviro-dome which had become a good stop-over spot for traders and smugglers alike. It was a rough place where you had to keep your wits about you and where the predominant business was made-up of small bars and greasy diners.

The Doctor was of course, neither a trader nor a smuggler. He had no particular reason for coming to Tanel at this point in time, other than it was a place where he could sit, think and be left alone. He sat with a glass of water in front of him, staring out at the surface of Tanel from within a bar that boasted the best views of the planet surface.

After he had left Donna on earth, the pain had hit him fully. He could never see Rose again. She wouldn't even know how he felt about her. The fact that the Doctor himself didn't know exactly what it was that he felt about her, did not make it any easier.

She however, had laid her feelings bare on the beach in Norway. Choking back tears she said. "I love you."

"Quite right too," The Doctor had replied, unable at first to come to terms with his emotions. But by the time he had been able to say the words it was too late. Why hadn't he been able to reciprocate initially?

"Drowning your sorrows with water is no good! This one's on the house sweetheart." Said a female voice from behind him.

The Doctor snapped back to reality as a hand put a stronger drink in front of him. He realised a few tears were trailing down his face. Embarrassed and not wanting the stranger to see his grief, he wiped them away with the pinstriped sleeve of his blazer. The stranger took a seat next to him but the Doctor, wanting to be left alone, did not look over and kept silent.

After a period of silence, the young woman introduced herself "My name's Dita Gardener, what's your name?"

"John Smith." The Doctor replied quietly, hoping that the woman would realise he didn't want to talk and leave him alone.

"Good name," replied the stranger, "I had a good friend who went by that name. He's dead now though." The Doctor didn't reply, just thought of all of his dead and lost friends. "What brings you to Tanel?"

The Doctor spoke up this time, realising the woman was not going to leave him alone "Just ended up here, I wanted to loose myself." he mumbled sulkily.

"Me too, I tend to end up places and seem to always get jobs serving as a waitress or barmaid." The woman said chirpily, "And as for loosing yourself, you just have to make sure you don't loose your wallet and your morals here too!" and with that he turned to serve the other less-savoury characters in the bar.

The Doctor rolled these words around in his head for a bit and something in his memory set alarm bells ringing. He brushed it off and finished the water. He gave the other drink a sniff and thought it better not to consume it. He stood up to leave, putting on his brown jacket and looked over to where the barmaid was serving an alien customer. She turned her head and the Doctor gasped.

She looked to be in her late twenties and wore lots of tribal-looking jewellery including a spiral of bone priced through her nose and ear lobes and lots of intricate metal bangles which seemed to rattle as she moved. Despite being hidden under the elaborate jewellery having aged somewhat the Doctor recognised the woman. Her name wasn't Dita Gardener, but Dorothy Gale McShane, better known as Ace.

Seeing the Doctor leaving, Ace walked over to try to convince him to stay and spend some money. "Sure I can't convince you to buy yourself another drink?"

But the Doctor ignored her. "I'm sorry but, what did you say your name was again?"

"Dita," Ace replied, she looked confused but there was no doubt about who the girl was.

The Doctor realised he had been staring at her for some time and thought it better to find a reason to stay until he could talk to Ace without blowing her cover. She was probably using the false name for a reason and the Doctor didn't want to put her in danger.

"Yes a drink, I'll have another drink." He said, before adding "Soft drink."

The Doctor searched through his jacket pockets for some of the Tanel currency removing an assortment of things from his jack: string, some crumpled up paper, a large, broken remote control, the battered leather wallet in which is psychic paper was stored and his sonic screwdriver. Ace stared at the device and the Doctor saw that she recognised it. She had been there when he had made one of his sonic screwdrivers and despite his current version of the device looking different to the one she had seen him make, she definitely recognised it. She stared into the Doctor's eyes, looking like she'd seen a ghost.

"Is that you Professor?" she asked in a timidly, lacking the confidence she had spoken with before. She suddenly looked younger to the Doctor, more like the Ace he had first met on Ice World all those years ago.

The Doctor stared levelly at her before giving the slightest of smiles and a wink. Ace put her hand to her mouth and looked as though she was either going to be sick or break down crying. Luckily she did neither. "I know it isn't safe to talk here," The Doctor said as quickly and quietly as he could for her to still hear and understand him "so is there somewhere we can talk?"

Ace nodded, "My shift finishes in an hour. Stay in the bar and tail me to my apartment." She whispered.


	2. Chapter 2

This has been sitting on my computer for a while, sorry it took so long. Getting the tone of this conversation took a while and I was distracted by one of my origional fictions (over on fictionpress check my profile to get the link) finally getting worked out in my head.

As ever, read and reveiw!

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About an hour later an alien girl with blue skin and white hair walked in and Ace greeted her. 

"Hi Gladaria, you on the next shift?" Asked Ace.

The alien nodded "You get home Dita, I'll see you soon"

Ace said her goodbyes, and left the bar. The Doctor waited long enough to not arouse suspicion before following her.

The Doctor didn't have to tail Ace far. She lived in an ugly block of flats about 20 minutes from the bar. She entered her pin, pushed open the door and held it open for the Doctor. The Doctor followed and the two took the lift in silence to the nineteenth floor where Ace found the front door to flat 195. The Doctor followed her inside.

Ace's apartment was a slightly tired looking bed-sit. Inside was a bed, a wash basin, and a cooler unit.

Ace was standing by the window with her back to the Doctor so he sat on the bed. There was silence for a while before Ace spoke.

"I thought you were dead, Professor," Ace said in a small voice. She turned and looked close to tears, "On my travels I heard about the Time War and Gallifrey and…" Ace stopped herself, seeing the Doctor was hanging his head. "What happened?" She asked.

It took a long time for the Doctor to reply. "The Daleks," He began, "Gallifrey had to wage war on them to protect the whole of creation. The Daleks were defeated but the sacrifice was the Time Lords and Gallifrey."

Ace smashed a fist on the window sill "It's always the bloody Daleks!"

The Doctor nodded in response.

"But you've regenerated was that from the Time War?" Asked Ace

"Bullet through the heart, the Time War and an incident with a companion looking into the Time Vortex." The Doctor counted on his fingers and tried desperately not to think of Rose. "So I've regenerated three times since I last saw you."

Silence resumed in the flat until the Doctor took a deep breath and said "So, Why are you under cover Ace? You're not in trouble are you?"

Ace Smiled and shook her head, "Not this time no. I'm employed by the Salenthar, they're a group of intergalactic investigation elite for hire."

"Blimey!" The Doctor exclaimed "Never thought I'd see you as an authority figure."

Ace laughed in response "Well, the money was good and it meant I could still travel in space if not in time." The Doctor grinned "About three months ago there was an anonymous job going for a case involving the disappearance of a human. Being the only human in the Salenthar, I took a vested interest and requested to take it on." She explained, "Samantha Rein disappeared five months ago from Earth."

"Alien abduction?" Asked the Doctor.

Ace nodded "In every sense of the word. Taken from her bed at night, bright lights in the sky, crop circles, very elaborate."

"Yeh, but most of that stuff is a practical joke, people don't usually disappear."

"Well Samantha did! Through my recognisance I managed to get a vague sighting on Tanel so I hitched a lift here, assumed an alternate identity and tried to see if I could get any more information but so far there's been nothing! If I don't get any more information in a week I'm planning on abandoning the case."

The Doctor looked thoughtful. "Have you tried the docking bay surveillance?"

"No but how could I do that? I couldn't exactly walk in there, it's guarded."

The Doctor smiled and reached into his jacket pocket to produce a battered-looking ID wallet with some blank paper inside. "Ace let me introduce you to an ingenious little thing that I picked up on my travels. It's called psychic paper."


	3. Chapter 3

Apologies for the shortness of the chapters so far... they seem to come to a natural end so I end them, whatever their length.

Thanks for your kind reveiws, keep reading and keep reveiwing!

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The docking bay was a fair way from Ace's flat so Ace suggested they take the hover-tram. Despite it being late at night the tram was packed with unsavoury looking characters meaning all seats were occupied. The Doctor clung from a handle which hung from the ceiling of the tram while Ace, being a good deal shorter than this incarnation of Doctor and therefore unable to reach the ceiling handles, clung to a bar on the sides. 

The tram raced through the city, the wind from the open windows blowing the Doctor's long coat about.

After three stops an automated voice announced "docking bay" and the Doctor, Ace and several other travellers departed from the tram.

"The surveillance office is over here." Ace said and the Doctor followed her up some stairs to the door of the office. The Doctor knocked confidently.

"What?" a gruff-looking guard from inside asked impolitely as he stuck his head around the door. He wore a scruffy uniform which could have once inspired some pride from the wearer, however now was tired-looking. He looked the Doctor and Ace up and down taking in the Doctor's long coat and pinstriped suit. Ace had changed into something smarter and less revealing as than her barmaid clothes, which were designed to get customers to buy as many drinks as possible from her and talk to her in the hope she could gleam some information from them.

"We're here to take over your shift." The Doctor said flashing the psychic paper. "I'm from upstairs, thought I'd show our new recruit the ropes and set her to work."

The guard looked slightly suspicious, "Where's her uniform?"

"Having trouble finding something in her size unfortunately," The Doctor said shrugging and barging into the room. Ace followed "Right, better get out of our way, I want the recruit to have as little distractions as possible!"

The guard still looked a little confused but the Doctor's ruse seemed to have fooled him and he packed up his belongings and left.

"That was wicked professor!" Ace exclaimed as soon as they were sure the guard was out of earshot. "Got any more of that psychic paper stuff? It would do wonders for my investigations."

The Doctor took his glasses from a pocket in his jacket, removed the jacket, placed it on the back of a chair, which stood in front of a desk and started searching the office. The surveillance office had a large window which overlooked the docking bay. The desk and chair stood in front of the window. A computer screen on the desk showed ships arriving and leaving although they could also be viewed through the window and felt, as the entire office seemed to shake every time a ship took off or landed.

"Don't think so Ace, the paper was given to me by King Meyite of Glahiseh..." The Doctor said distractedly, before exclaiming "Aha!"

The Doctor held up three CD cases and waved them in Ace's face. "What are they?" she asked.

"The disks containing the last three months of surveillance." The Doctor explained with a grin. Now that the Doctor had stopped moving the disks around Ace could see that there were dates written on the cases.

"What we're going to watch every disk here?" Ace asked. "That will take months!"

"No, we're going to copy the disks here, put them back and get the TARDIS to read the disks, quickly scan the footage and see if it can come up with any suspicious activity. I know there's a lot of suspicious activity going on on this planet but that should narrow it down a bit." The Doctor said.

Ace smiled at the mention of the TARDIS. She began to feel very nostalgic.


	4. Chapter 4

Another short-ish chapter... sorry guys!

Sorry for the long wait! I've started a new job which is really taking it out of me. After staring at a computer screen all day at work, you want to do it less at home.

As ever, writing and playing in the world of Doctor Who is the greatest reward... but reveiws make it that extra bit more fulfilling!

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The Doctor had neatly parked the TARDIS in an unnoticeable corner of the docking bay. The outside looked identical to how Ace remembered it and as they approached it she ran towards her old home. She leaned up against it and put a cheek on it, feeling the living vibrations from within.

"Do you know, I think the TARDIS is the only real home I've ever had." She told the Doctor as he came nearer.

The Doctor smiled "Well it has changed a bit but home is home and there's no place like it... apparently!"

The Doctor took the TARDIS key from a pocket and unlocked the door.

Ace followed the Doctor and was immediately shocked. Changed a _bit_? It had changed a lot! Ace felt like she did the first time she entered the TARDIS, but it wasn't the unexpected size of the interior of the ship that made her awestruck this time, but how haunting the interior of the ship was now. Gone were the grey-white walls, now they were brilliant gold and curved up to form a domed roof. The circular motif was still visible on the walls but now small lights shone from the centre of each circle. Corral-like scaffolding reached up to the ceiling and although the octagonal console was still there, the controls had changed and now looked as though the Doctor had cobbled together levers, wheels and other more bizarre control devices that could program the TARDIS for it's flight. It almost looked alike a paired down, cannibalised version of the TARDIS interior she knew.

"What happened to the inside?" Asked Ace.

The Doctor smiled "Don't you like it?"

"Well yes but…" Ace tried to start several sentences before she figured out how to phrase her question so that the Doctor couldn't avoid it. "But why does it look like this? It looks almost like a shell of its former self."

The Doctor's face dropped. How he wished Ace hadn't asked that question. At least Sarah Jane hadn't tried to ask what had happened to his ship, something so painful and hidden that he hadn't dared dwell on since he had met Rose.

"The War…" he eventually said. "The TARDIS was damaged as badly as I was. We both had to regenerate. We burned with Gallifrey." The Doctor swallowed hard, "But we managed to escape the planet before it became dust and took us with it. All the other Time Lords and TARDIS' weren't as lucky." The Doctor closed his eyes, trying to push the images of his planet in its death throws, from his mind. "I patched her up as best I could." The Doctor said, stroking the console tenderly, "This TARDIS is as tough as they get."

Ace and the Doctor stood in silent morning until the Doctor produced the CDs from his jacket and began feeling under the console, searching with his hands.

"Ah, here it is." he said, pulling a small lever which pushed forward a box shaped contraption, connected to the TARDIS console which had a slot for CDs.

He put the first CD in and went to the console. Some symbols appeared on the screen which Ace couldn't read but the Doctor obviously could.

"Next one." The Doctor said.

Ace put the next CD in the slot and, a few moments later, the final one was slid into the slot on the Doctor's orders.

The Doctor pulled some levers and pushed some buttons. "I'm just telling the TARDIS to analyse the footage for any suspicious activity."

The TARDIS had narrowed the 3 months of security footage down to 37 likely clips which the Doctor and Ace had to look through manually. It was a gruelling task but was still easier than looking through 3 months of footage.

They were looking at clip number 22 when they realised it was the right one. A ship landed and someone peered out, looking around suspiciously. At first Ace thought the creature was human but she soon it wasn't. This alien looked like a particularly tall, broad man. He had long brown hair and a long beard with wooden beads threaded through both. The biggest difference was noticeable only when the alien turned to show his face. His eyes were very small, round and dark and he had a large, flat nose. In fact it was so large and flat that the nostrils sat millimetres from his mouth and parallel to his eyes.

"Professor, what species is he?" Ace asked. She had never, in all her travelling encountered an alien quite like him but expected the Doctor to know immediately what race he came from.

The Doctor was silent for a while. "I don't know." He said, sounding as surprised as Ace was.

They watched as, once the creature had checked his surroundings, he went back into the ship and produced a large bag made of a brown material, and slung it over his shoulder.

"You don't suppose Samantha could be in that bag do you?" Ace asked

The Doctor shrugged and watched the direction the alien was walking. "He was heading towards the medical bays." The Doctor said.


End file.
